Monday, April 18, 2011

The reasons why the Flip cameras are history-Cisco will close a business unit it bought just two years by $ 590 million, Flip Camcorders Division, reported Wired in an article by Brian X. Chen.

The company Cisco, according to Chen, he had to act fast, because its earnings fell 18% in the second quarter of 2011, and CEO, John Chambers, had to demonstrate that it was taking decisive action to stem the flow.

Flip's performance had not been very good lately. But the basic question is: What was it that wiped out these adorable and cheap camcorders?

The obvious culprit, said Chen, is the smartphone with general duties. When iPhones and Android phones went on sale with decent cameras for taking still pictures, the Flip has become somewhat redundant.

Cisco did not take the trouble to adapt to the market, said Chen's article, because when Steve Jobs introduced the iPod Nano with a camera in 2009, made it clear that affordable Flip camcorder was the main goal of Apple.

"We want to do this," Jobs said regarding accessible camera industry, showing a slide of Flip iPod at an event in 2009. Why buy a cheap VCR if you can buy an iPod Nano that also takes video? Besides the Nano, Apple has already released the iPhone 3G, also able to capture standard definition video.

Then, many smartphones Android also began to include cameras with video capability, and did so the iPod Touch. The iPhone took 4 and other HD video recorders to smart phones, eliminating the possible advantage of the Flip.

According to the text WiredThe notion of charging a cheap recorder and a general-purpose smart phone or an iPod became impractical.

One of the flaws in Cisco was not caught up in something that has been the trend for years: social networks in real time.

After Apple launched its iPhone 3G equipped with video, Cisco Flips should have shipped with Wi-Fi customers to adjust immediately to the publications on social networks like Flickr and YouTube, it said.

Like the Flip did not have a Wi-FiThis was another reason to start buying smart phones, he added.

In addition, Cisco Flip could have driven a internet connection to a network only to users of Flip, But moved too slow.

The article by Chen Wired said the luxury line of Cisco products Flip became boring. The HD Slide Luxury (230 dollars) includes 16 GB of storage, 720p video and 2x zoom for video. For the same price, a conventional iPod Touch includes 8GB of storage, 729p video, internet connection and access to hundreds of thousands of applications in the App Store. Which would you choose?, Asked in the article.

If Cisco had focused on optimizing the luxury line of Flip cameras, would have a compelling reason to buyInstead of a smart phone or an iPod. Solid media apparatus, first would have allowed Flip eminent among multipurpose devices on the market, ending text Wired.(source : mexico.cnn.com).